


Introductions

by myth_taken



Series: Who Needs Magic When We Have High School [3]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 11:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8622013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myth_taken/pseuds/myth_taken
Summary: Willow finally introduces her old friends to her new friend. In the end, though, no power can stop Cordelia's self-interest.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So in this AU, I'm just kind of assuming that Xander and Cordelia have a similar arc to in canon. I'll probably write that eventually... I'm not sure how it'll work, but it'll be funny.

Buffy shoved through the masses of people in the cafeteria, finally finding Xander in the crowd. She sat down in between him and Jesse. “Where’s Willow?” she asked. “Haven’t seen her at lunch in a while.”

“Not sure,” Xander said. “I think she’s trying to broaden her horizons or something.”

“If she were going to broaden, you’d think she’d have done it a while before sophomore year of high school,” Cordelia said, leaning across Xander to join the conversation. “Not to be rude or anything, but people don’t exactly change around here.”

“She says she’s not trying to be rude, and yet she is,” Xander answered. He shrugged, spooning Jello into his mouth. “Willow’s got new friends. Probably from the show.”

“Huh.” Buffy shrugged, stabbing at her weird cafeteria lasagna with a fork. “Never thought she liked theatre _that_ much. I guess I’ll ask her about it in bio.”

—

Willow glided through the cafeteria, sitting next to Tara at their usual table in the corner. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Tara said, smiling in greeting. Her hand quickly found Willow’s under the table, and Willow took it, clumsily trying to eat with only her left hand. This whole holding hands thing was a new development, but Willow found that she was in no way against it. She was going so far as to consider that she might have a crush on Tara, but that required far too much questioning of everything she had previously thought to be true, so it was a long process of consideration.

“I think my friends are starting to wonder where I go at lunch,” Willow said. “I think I might have to introduce you one of these days.”

“I’d like to meet them,” Tara said.

“Yeah. I’m just worried. It’s like, two parts of my life, and they don’t really go together, you know? Putting you and them together feels all weird. Even if it would be nice.”

“I don’t mind.” Tara held Willow’s hand tighter. “But it would be nicer if you didn’t have to choose between us all the time.”

—

Buffy cornered Willow before their biology class. “Hey, Willow. Haven’t been seeing you at lunch lately.”

Willow blushed. “Um, I’ve kind of made a new friend.”

Buffy narrowed her eyes at Willow. “Is that a blush I detect? Is this a _boy_ friend?”

The blush deepened. “No— no boy. Just a friend.”

The teacher came up and unlocked the door to the classroom, ushering in the students. Buffy raised her eyebrows at Willow as she walked in, but she didn’t have time to say anything more before she had to walk to her seat across the classroom.

—

That night, Willow called Buffy. “Hey, um, look for me in the cafeteria tomorrow, okay?”

Buffy seemed a little bemused. “ _Okay. Anything interesting I need to worry about?_ ”

“I don’t think so.”

They talked for a while longer, and then it was time for Willow to go to bed. She couldn’t stop thinking, though: why had she blushed when Buffy had asked her about Tara? Why did she like Tara so much? She liked Tara in the same way as she had liked Oz, except she didn’t like Oz as much anymore, because he had left. And it was different, of course, but only because _Tara_ was different, and because Willow was a little different, too, from how she had been when she had met Oz. It was all strange, and Willow didn’t know what to do, but she did know that if she just kept holding Tara’s hand, she’d be all right.

The next day, Willow made sure to be early to lunch. Belatedly, she realized that she hadn’t warned Tara that Buffy and possibly Xander and Jesse and hopefully not Cordelia would be showing up, and she hoped that Tara would appear first; she didn’t want Tara to see her friends and be scared.

She didn’t have to worry. Tara was always there early, and Buffy and the others were chronically late. When Tara slid in next to her, she said, “I think Buffy and the others might come eat with us today.”

“Okay,” Tara said. “How many are the others?”

“I’m not sure,” Willow admitted. “I’m hoping not Cordelia.”

Tara laughed. “I’m always hoping not Cordelia.” She looked at Willow in fright. “I’m kind of not very good around new people,” she said. “I talked to you and Angel because I felt like I had to. I don’t talk a lot around new people.”

Willow grabbed Tara’s hand under the table. “It’s okay,” she said. “My friends talk way too much. It’ll balance out.”

Tara nodded.

A moment later, Willow saw Buffy on tiptoes, looking around the cafeteria. She raised her free hand and waved. Buffy saw her and started heading over. By a silent agreement, Tara and Willow separated their hands, and Willow started eating with her right hand as Buffy sat down.

“Hey, Willow,” she said. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Tara,” Willow said.

Buffy looked at Tara for a moment. “One of the Von Trapp kids?”

Tara nodded.

“You were really good.”

Tara smiled. “Th- thanks.” It was almost a whisper, and Willow felt awful about it. She hadn’t meant to put Tara on the spot or anything.

Fortunately, Buffy turned her attention to Willow. “Hey, Will, did you hear about what Cordelia did last night?”

Willow shook her head.

“Apparently she asked Xander to help her pick out dresses for her dog.”

Willow laughed. “Is her dog really pretty today?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Buffy answered. “I don’t have any classes with her. Or her dog, for that matter.”

Next to Willow, Tara laughed, then quickly stifled it. Willow had the urge to take her hand again, but still, she was afraid to do it in front of Buffy, which was completely unreasonable; it wasn’t like she was trying to be romantic with Tara. That was wrong, wasn’t it? She was pretty sure it was wrong. And Tara needed the extra friendship. All Willow was doing was trying to be a good friend.

Jesse arrived next, sitting next to Buffy, across from Tara. “Hey,” he said.

Tara nodded at him.

“Jesse,” Willow said, “this is Tara. Tara, this is Jesse.”

Tara ducked her head.

“Nice to meet you,” Jesse said.

Willow quickly turned the conversation to other things. “So, uh, I heard that Cordelia’s been playing doggy dress-up.”

Jesse laughed. “I hadn’t heard that yet. I believe it, though.” He bit into his hamburger.

“It’s a little strange, though,” Buffy said. “How come we’ve never seen the dog before?”

“Maybe it’s an alien,” Willow said, her voice light and mocking.

“Yeah, sure,” Buffy answered. “And I’m a vampire slayer.” She rolled her eyes and held a fry in front of her face. “Do you think this is edible?”

Tara stared at it. “M- maybe it’s secretly r- rubber,” she said.

Buffy stared at her in surprise, then laughed. “You know, I think I would not be surprised if that were true.” She bit the fry. “Nope. Just regular mushy cafeteria fry.”

Tara smiled and looked back down at her plate.

Xander came and set his tray down by Willow. “So, is this your mysterious not-a-boy friend?”

Willow blushed again.

“You know she has a name, right?” Buffy asked.

“Okay, well, what is it?” Xander looked across Willow at Tara.

Willow sighed. “Xander, this is Tara. Tara, Xander doesn’t really mean to be that rude. It’s just kind of his natural state.”

Xander nudged Willow. “Hey! I’m not rude. Only honest and slightly sarcastic.”

“M- my dad says that’s what r-rude is.” Tara almost whispered it.

“Xander’s not bad,” Buffy said. “He’s almost nice when you get to know him.”

“Hey, at least I’m not Cordelia.” Xander looked up. “Which, by the way, look out: here she comes.”

Cordelia slid in next to Xander. “I’m not even going to bother with asking about your new friend, Willow,” she said. “To be honest, I see no point in torturing this poor soul any longer.”

“You mean Tara?” Xander asked.

Cordelia looked confused. “Tara? Who’s Tara? No, I’m talking about Bessie.”

“Her dog,” Xander clarified for the others.

“Her hair has been frizzy ever since I got her,” Cordelia lamented.

“Which is when, exactly?” Buffy asked.

Cordelia gaped at Buffy. “Two _days_ ago! You didn’t _notice_?”

“Tragically,” Buffy said, “I have my own personal life to worry about sometimes.”

Tara laughed again.

The rest of the meal continued in much the same vein, with Cordelia complaining, Xander trying to calm her down, and Buffy being sarcastic, all while Willow watched Tara carefully to make sure she was doing okay. When Willow finished her lunch, she let her hand brush against Tara’s under the table, and Tara intertwined their fingers. She thought that Jesse noticed her tiny smile, but he didn’t say anything about it, and that was probably for the better. After all, she didn’t want to interrupt any big developments in Cordelia’s dog’s life.


End file.
